Research released this week by Sydney, Australia-based medical publisher BMJ indicated that older adults who have a fear of falling are at an increased risk for future falls, regardless of physical risk assessment. The study included 500 people, aged 70 to 90, who underwent extensive medical and psychological tests that estimated the participants’ actual and perceived fall risks. Those with a high level of anxiety about falling were mostly like to endure a spill.

The risk of falling can always be minimized with the aid of an in-home care giver, regardless of physical limitations or mental anxieties. As a caregiver, it’s important to assuage the fears that may be causing a loved one uneasiness. FirstLight Home Care strives to help all of our clients by not only being aware of their fears but providing them the kind of compassionate support that will allow them to continue their lives to fullest. How can you help?

I’ll sign off with one thoughtful note: Last week I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a message that resonated with FirstLight’s mission of providing compassionate in-home care to all those in need. Perhaps you will agree. Take a moment to read it, and spend some time this weekend thinking about all of the things that are worth keeping close in your life.

Keepers

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress; lawn mower in his hand, and dish-towel in hers. It was the time for fixing things … A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, eating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful … Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there would always be more.

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer’s night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn’t any more. Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away……never to return. So … While we have it … It’s best we love it … And care for it … And fix it when it’s broken … And heal it when it’s sick.

This is true … For marriage … And old cars … And children with bad report cards … Dogs and cats with bad hips … And aging parents … And grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep. Like a best friend who moved away or a classmate we grew up with. There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special. And so, we keep them close in heart and mind and spirit.

I received this from someone who thinks I am a “keeper,” so I’ve sent it to the people I think of in the same way.

Now it’s your turn to send this to those people who are “keepers” in your life. Send it back to the person that sent it to you if they too are a keeper.

Good friends are like stars…
You don’t always see them,
but you know they are always there.